SGSAH AHRC Collaborative Doctoral Award 2024/25: Women, Gender, and Political Engagement at The Glasgow School of Art

2024 entry

The School of Art History at the University of St Andrews and The Glasgow School of Art Archives and Collections are pleased to offer a Collaborative Doctoral Award studentship, funded by the Scottish Graduate School for Arts & Humanities, to support a student undertaking doctoral research in the following project: Women, Gender, and Political Engagement at The Glasgow School of Art.

Project description

This doctoral project offers an exciting opportunity for a student to work closely with The Glasgow School of Art Archives and Collections to uncover and communicate marginalised histories of gender and politics from the late nineteenth through to the twenty-first centuries. The Glasgow School of Art (GSA) welcomed women as students and teachers as early as the mid-nineteenth century, developing a modernising curriculum that permitted them to study life drawing earlier than their contemporaries elsewhere, and instrumentalise their art in the campaign for suffrage. Yet GSA’s Archives and Collections still contain uncatalogued and unresearched material related to the political activities of women artists (including trans women, nonbinary and genderqueer practitioners), whose work speaks to the construction of women as political subjects, and to the intersections of gender with class, race and sexuality.

The successful student will develop their own research project within the parameters of the award. Possible research questions could include (but are not limited to):

• What was unique about GSA’s environment that stimulated widespread political engagement by artists who identified as women, and what challenges did they face?
• What forms did this political engagement take – for example, from engagements with suffrage campaigns to the anti-nuclear movement and ecological concerns – and how are they evidenced in the archive?
• How might marginalised histories of gender, political organising, and feminist, anti-racist and LGBTQIA+ activism be surfaced through the archive and collections?
• What contributions might these narratives make to wider developments in queer feminist art histories? 
• How can we communicate marginalised histories at GSA relating to gender and sexuality, alongside the broader political activism of students and staff, to a wider public?

The doctoral researcher will have unprecedented access to diverse material in GSA’s Archives and Collections, together with a wide range of visual media including ceramics, sculpture, metalwork, book illustration, posters, film, costumes, textiles, drawing and painting. Projects must be grounded in GSA Archives and Collections, but we welcome projects that consider material across the nineteenth, twentieth and twenty-first centuries. The project has the potential to encompass wider networks of GSA artists in Scotland and globally, and could also include the rich seam of contemporary practice that has responded to material in the archive. Please visit https://www.gsa.ac.uk/archives for more information about the possible material which the project could encompass.

This is a Collaborative Doctoral Award, supervised by the School of Art History at the University of St Andrews and The Glasgow School of Art Archives and Collections. The researcher will be registered for the PhD at the University of St Andrews, while also spending a minimum of six months working with GSA Archives and Collections. At GSA Archives and Collections they will have the opportunity to develop skills in archival, museum and curatorial practice and public engagement. These include cataloguing, documentation and the creation of oral histories, online content, and pop-up exhibitions.

The Scottish Graduate School for Arts & Humanities CDA studentship also offers:

• A core programme with fundamental training activities which support the student to develop their skills as a future research leader.
• Access to advanced inter/disciplinary training through SGSAH’s innovative Discipline+ Catalysts.
• Connection and collaboration with organisations across the creative, cultural, heritage and third sectors through Knowledge Exchange Hubs.
• Extra funds to gain additional skills through training and internships.
• Opportunities for travel abroad to carry out research and fieldwork.
• Opportunities to be a Visiting Doctoral Researcher at an international Higher Education Institute.
• The chance to join an engaged and committed cohort of doctoral researchers working across the full range of arts and humanities disciplines.

For more information on SGSAH, please see their website: https://www.sgsah.ac.uk/

The student will be supervised by Dr Shona Kallestrup and Dr Catherine Spencer in the School of Art History at the University of St Andrews, and Michelle Kaye (Collections Lead) and Polly Christie (Archives & Collections Manager) at The Glasgow School of Art Archives and Collections.

Informal enquiries regarding this Collaborative Doctoral Award may be addressed to Dr Shona Kallestrup – email sk61@st-andrews.ac.uk.

Start date

1 October 2024. Please note that this offer cannot be deferred to a subsequent academic year.

Duration of award

3.5 years full-time or 7 years part-time. The successful candidate will be expected to have completed the doctorate degree by the end of the award term. The award term excludes the continuation period and any extension periods.

Tuition or maintenance award

Tuition and maintenance.

Value of award

The SGSAH CDA offers an annual stipend of approx. £19,600 (full time) plus fees at the Home (UK) student rate. The University of St Andrews will cover the additional fees for an international student.

Eligibility

Applicants should:

• Hold at least a 2:1 undergraduate degree in a relevant discipline.
• Have completed, or be on course to complete, a Masters Degree in a relevant discipline and/or demonstrate equivalent relevant professional experience.
• Be able to demonstrate preparedness for the proposed collaborative doctoral project.

Equivalent professional experience could include, but is not limited to: a good track record of employment in a library, archive, museum or heritage setting that includes relevant research skills. We particularly encourage candidates who can demonstrate an interest in feminist historical approaches and methodologies.

For English-language requirements, please consult: https://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/subjects/entry/language-requirements/postgraduate/.

Applicants must not already (i) hold a doctoral degree; or (ii) be matriculated for a doctoral degree at the University of St Andrews or another institution.

Applications are particularly welcome from people from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) backgrounds, and other protected characteristics who are under-represented in professional posts at the University. Equality, diversity and inclusion are at the heart of the St Andrews experience and form a central pillar of the University Strategy.  We strive to create a fair and inclusive culture demonstrated through our commitment to diversity awards (Athena Swan, Carer Positive, LGBT Charter and Race Charters). For more information see: https://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/art-history/equality-diversity/

Geographical criteria

No restrictions.

Domicile for fee status

No restrictions.

How to apply

Please send the following application documents to pgarthist@st-andrews.ac.uk:

• A Personal Statement (500 words) detailing your qualifications and/or relevant experience for the studentship.
• A Research Proposal (1000–1500 words) outlining how you would approach the project and respond to the brief.
• A short Curriculum Vitae (max. 2 pages)
• An academic writing sample (e.g. Masters chapter, or undergraduate dissertation where the applicant does not have a MA qualification).
• The names and contact details of two academic/professional referees.

Please submit your application documents by the deadline of Friday 17 May 2024 (applications close at 5pm UK time). 

Please ensure your referees can provide (on request) their reference by Monday 27 May 2024. Referees will only be contacted for shortlisted candidates.

Interviews for shortlisted candidates will be held on Tuesday 28 May, online via MS Teams.